Stranger in a Familiar Land
by eradicating
Summary: Old Vongola Decimo Sawada Tsunayoshi died peacefully in his sleep with few regrets, knowing that his grandson had the Vongola Famligia well in hand. In a parallel world, at that same moment, salaryman Sawada Tsunayoshi woke up and fell out of his bed. AU/Dimension Travel/Gen/Possible OOCness.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

**Author's Notes: **I don't do long fic very well, so each chapter will probably be about this length. If it's longer, it's because it wouldn't make sense if it was shorter. Updates will probably be irregular as well considering how RL likes to kick me in the head as much as possible. If you spot any mistakes, grammar/spelling or otherwise, please tell me! If you enjoyed this fic, please also tell me!

**General Warnings:** AU, Dimension Travel, Gen, Drama, Violence, Language, some people might consider Tsuna and company OOC.

**Chapter 1**

Tsuna watched with a nostalgic expression on his face as black haired teen rushed passed him on the street in his underwear and ONLY his underwear, dying will flames flickering on his head. Once upon a time in another lifetime it had been him doing the same thing. Now it was...

… none of his business.

Shaking his head, he continued on to his destination, the local grocery store. Half an hour later, he was back out again, a bag of groceries in one hand, only to find the same black haired teenager from before trying to hide his semi-naked body using a piece of cardboard and the various telephone poles on the street.

Before Tsuna knew it, he was shrugging out of the light jacket he was wearing and holding it out the clearly embarrassed teenager.

"Hey. You're going to catch a cold like this if you keep going like that without even a t-shirt on." Tsuna made no mention of the fact that the boy in front of him had no pants on either. While it was still relatively warm during the day, it was now late afternoon and a cool breeze was blowing.

"Thank you, sir." The teen whispered, face red as he hurriedly put on the jacket.

"Off you go now, before you get into trouble." Or before someone calls the police, was the unvoiced thought in both their minds. Tsuna picked up his groceries and without any further words, headed back to his small and lonely apartment.

It was only after the teenager returned home that he realized he had no way of returning the borrowed clothing. The boy flailed.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! How am I supposed to return this to that nice man now! I don't know his name! Or where he lives!"

In the meantime, Tsuna had returned to the tiny apartment he was living in and was eating a tv dinner he had bought earlier. His eyes skimmed over the few simple pieces of paper lying on the coffee table his mind matching the physical evidence in front of him to the lingering memories of his alternate self in his head.

His ID Card. Apparently he was Shinozaki Tsunayoshi in this world, taking his mother's maiden name instead of father's last name. He was twenty-three years old. Again.

His parent's divorce papers. That explained his last name. An image came to the front of his mind: Nana hugging him tightly when he was seven, her eyes sad, whispering that she would always take care of him. Tsuna found this baffling; he'd always thought his parents adored each other. Fuuta had certainly ranked them as the happiest couple in the mafia previously. So what had happened?

Bank information. Rental papers for the bachelor apartment he was currently living in. Old school reports. Nana's death certificate. His birth certificate. Job contract with a local import/export company as a low-level paper pusher.

There was no Vongola ring on his finger. No box weapon. Cheap, off-the-rack suits and similarly old and worn casual clothing hung in his closet, none of the expensive, tailored suits Reborn had insisted was absolutely necessary for a mafia boss. Not one sign of his friends, his Guardians or even Reborn in this tiny apartment, not even a photo.

"Just a normal salaryman, not a mafia boss. What I always wanted before..." Tsuna murmured to himself, lolling his head back over the worn-down couch he was sitting on.

"A second chance...? To do what?" He had thought he was dying before and was completely fine with it. Eighty-six years old was a perfectly respectable age to head on to the next great adventure, considering the average mafia boss usually died on the job much much earlier. His grandson Ietsuna had the Vongola Famiglia well in hand after he'd retired, so nothing to worry about there. Falling out of bed in an unknown apartment in a body sixty-three years younger than he was supposed to be with foreign memories in his head had been a shock.

Letting out a sigh, Tsuna got up and started cleaning up the remains of his dinner as well as the papers on his desk, only to be interrupted by a firm knock on his apartment door. To his surprise, two familiar faces that he wasn't expecting to see was on the other side. Or perhaps considering who they were, Tsuna should have expected them to show up sooner or later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Here's chapter two, where it explains a few things. I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, followed or favourited this story!

Yuni and Tsuna sat down together on the bench at the edge of the lake, looking out at the bright full moon in the distance. Byakuran had wandered off to the side and they saw him lingering just within hearing range, teasing a flock of ducks at the water's edge with bits of crackers. Even further behind them Tsuna could feel Gemma keeping watch. The thought made him smile; It seemed that no matter in which world, Gemma would always follow after his Hime.

"I think I understand somewhat of the how's of how I get here, though not why. I'm tired, Yuni. I've had a long, eventful life, and I was ready to move on. Kyoko, Hayato, Takeshi and all the others...even Reborn, and all of us thought he was immortal...they've already gone ahead of me. I was really looking forward to seeing them again."

Yuni smiled sadly at him. "I'm so sorry, Tsunayoshi-san. But we just missed you so much. Though neither Byakuran and I had anything to do with it, I can't deny that we're sorry for it."

Tsuna forehead furrowed slightly at her words. What about the version of himself in this world? Surely...

Yuni continued. "We did try to make contact with the version of you here once but it didn't end too well..." Her voice trailed off as she thought back to that one and only meeting they had several years ago.

_Flashback_

_"A-ano...it's Yuni-san and Byakuran-san, isn't it?" Tsuna wrung his hands nervously in front of him, not daring to look at either of his surprise visitors in the face and stared down at his tea cup instead. _

_"May I ask...how do you know me? I...I don't think I've ever met either one of you."_

_Yuni smiled reassuringly as she picked up her teacup. "Well, not in this world. But in another world, we were friends and colleagues of a sort. Did your mother or anyone else ever tell you what your father did for a living?"_

_"I..I...don't know anything...and I haven't seen Tousan since I was really young. Mama wouldn't say anything about him after they divorced. I think he was some kind of worker at the oilfields?" Tsuna replied, taking a quick peek at the odd duo sitting in his living room before turning his gaze downwards again._

_"You really don't know anything at all, do you, Tsunayoshi-kun?" Byakuran interjected, "Sawada Iemitsu, formerly known as the Young Lion of the Vongola, was a well-known member of our world." _

_"I...I'm sorry? I don't really understand..."_

_"Byakuran! You're going to fast! You can't expect..." Yuni admonished immediately, turning to give her companion a disapproving look._

_Byakuran crossed his arms over his chest. "I thought it was a whole lot better than: 'Well, Tsunayoshi-kun, in another life you were the tenth boss of the strongest mafia group in the world called the Vongola, and was one of the three 'skies' of the trinisette."_

_Whatever Yuni was going to say in response was cut off by a gunshot which was quickly followed by an unconscious body crashing through the glass balcony door onto the coffee table. Byakuran stood up and nudged the bleeding body with a foot, a displeased expression on his face._

_"Oh dear...the Viti family again?" Yuni murmured calmly, turning to look worriedly at Tsuna, who had curled up in a ball on the ground by the coffee table, eyes tightly shut and hands pressed over his ears at the sound of the gunshot._

_"Some people just never seem to learn their lesson the first time. I am going to send Zakuro-kun to them; just maybe it'll sink in this time." Byakuran drawled and shook his head. "We should go. Your loyal knight has taken care of this one but we shouldn't linger if we don't want to bring trouble down on dear Tsunayoshi-kun's head." _

_Yuni knelt down by Tsuna's shaking body, placing a comfortable hand on his shoulder. "Tsunayoshi-san...it's alright. We'll go now and don't worry about the mess; someone will take care of it tonight. So...if it's easier for you, just forget that we were ever here at all."_

_End Flashback_

"In short, the Tsunayoshi of this world was a frightened little mouse, living a perfectly normal and utterly meaningless life, having never met the baby hitman. He was useless and more importantly, utterly _boring_." Byakuran spoke up from behind them, a few stray ducks trailing behind his feet, his tone making it clear that being boring was the part that was most offensive to him.

"Byakuran!" Yuni reprimanded before turning guilty eyes at Tsuna. "I really am sorry. But I think the reason you are here is because you are needed. Somewhere in this world, there is a problem that only you are the answer to. Or else the pacifiers and the rings wouldn't have acted in such a way. But you don't have to worry about any of that yet! Take this time to relax, settle in. Byakuran and I will be in Japan for at least the next little while to help." Her last sentence was accompanied by a firm look at Byakuran.

"Hai~ hai, Yuni-chan. Of course I'll do my part to help dear Tsunyoshi-kun feel comfortable in this world! Starting with this~" A cellphone was dropped unceremoniously into Tsuna's lap by Byakuran. "Direct secure lines to both Yuni-chan and I. Courtesy of Shou-chan and yours truly~"

Tsuna smiled as he picked up the cellphone. "So Shouichi's working for you again this time around?"

"Yup! Couldn't let the Vongola as they are right now snatch him up~ He's far too good for them. Although...if you ever decide to take over the Vongola again, I could transfer him back to you. For a small fee of course~"

Tsuna shook his head. "Shouichi is his own person, not some toy that's passed around when someone gets tired of playing with him."

"Me? Get tired of Shou-chan?! You wound me, Tsunayoshi-kun."

"Alright, alright. So long he's content, I won't say anything. It's none of my business anyhow. I'm going back to the apartment to get some sleep, it's a workday tomorrow." Tsuna got up from the park bench, Yuni following suit. "I'll see the two of you again soon?"

"Of course, Tsunayoshi-san. At least once before we must go back to Italy." Yuni gave him a quick hug and a smile. "Buona notte."

**Translator's Note:**  
Buona notte - Good night.  
Hime - Princess


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** A short one this time, but it was too good a place to stop. And this is where I will be completely honest and say that I have no idea where this story is going. I really don't want this to fall into the the usual cliches. I've also done some minor editing (grammar, sentence structures, added a few odd sentences here and there) for the first two chapters. As usual, if you enjoy this, please review!

Tsuna panted for breath as he dropped the bags of rice and other groceries in front of his apartment door and tried to rub feeling back into his sore arms. This was ridiculous; it was only a five story flight of stairs and half a kilometer quick run to the nearest grocery store. He had been in better shape when he was eighty years old than his current unfit body.

_Pathetic. What the hell have you been doing, dame-Tsuna?_ He could practically hear Reborn's voice in his head scolding him for not doing anything about the sorry state of his body sooner. Well that was going to have to change. He hadn't dared try igniting his Flames yet, afraid that he was going to do damage to a body that wasn't ready for them.

Putting away his newly purchased groceries, Tsuna mentally jotted down a plan for improving his fitness before collapsing onto his ratty couch. By the time he had died last time daily workouts something he did as part of his daily routine to keep up his health, and did not need any special plans unless he'd been especially injured or sick. His mind went down the memory lane to what Reborn did to torture train his thirteen year old self for ideas to improve himself in the least amount of time.

Getting woken up by his sadistic tutor at the crack of dawn with explosives, electric shocks, cold water and other assorted hazardous things to go on the run of his life, with Reborn cracking the whip at his heels.

More running after school, this time being chased by angry dogs, or the local Yakuza that Reborn had pissed off and led back to him.

Hauling heavy rocks, tree branches, or other random garbage that Reborn had found around Naminori.

Liberal use of dying will bullets to encourage him into fighting for his life.

His current body shuddered in remembered pain. Using Reborn's training methods as an example probably wasn't the best idea, Tsuna admitted to himself. There will be no dying will bullets or other dangerous weapons involved this time. Jogging he would do again, before and after work, but without being chased by angry people or animals. Weight training too, using proper weights this time around, and certainly at a more gradual pace than what Reborn thought appropriate. Tsuna had already started making changes to his diet, adding more proteins and carbohydrates; his other self in this world ate like small bird, and from what he could remember, often skipped meals.

Two weeks later, Tsuna thought he was improving. His body no longer felt like it was dying after a simple grocery run. Yuni and Byakuran had left for Italy a few days earlier, promising to keep in touch, but before she left Yuni had given him an enigmatic smile and suggested he take this particular route for his daily after work run. He had shrugged and complied today, not really understanding why.

Now he did.

In front of a modest gym, Tsuna stood gaping unattractively with his mouth open at the big cardboard display of a very familiar kangaroo with boxing gloves on it's front paws and flames on its tail and ears.


End file.
